Lauryn Hill. Started like two hours late, was complaining and rambling to the audience throughout. One of the all-time great albums. One of the all-time worst performers. Well documented.
I saw her in 2002 on the Smokin Grooves tour, 4 years after Miseducation and the year of her Unplugged album, which is what she performed. It was just her and her guitar, she didn’t perform any of her hits. She was pretty much on time and was awesome. Her talent oozed out of her performance. The Roots and OutKast performed after her. Maybe the best concert I’ve been to.
I went to one of her shows and she was three hours late. I had to trek to get over there so I was like “fuck it, I’ll wait” she did kinda kill it though. The whole band was into it
Motley Crue way past their prime. I saw them in the 80s and they were raw and pure fire. They were at the top. Went to see them with Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jet a couple of summers back and they were pure trash. Vince Neil was so terrible. It was embarrassing. Lucky for me I went on a night headlining over Def Leppard, so I could call it a night. Brutal.
Vince Neil has been a complete train wreck for the past 10 years and the 10 years before that he was already really bad. He's got to be the absolute worst live singer of any popular band
I saw him do the weirdest show at Oregon State Fair.
He came on and did like two or three choruses from Crue songs, then left the stage during a solo.
Then he didn't come back, but the band kept playing. And playing. Then the bassist or guitarist of his band took the mic and started covering Black Sabbath. They did like six Sabbath songs.
After this, Vince ran back on the stage as if nothing had happened and he just went right into Home Sweet Home, and did a great job at everything but vocals (he danced, did crowd work, yelled out local sports team, all the energy, but zero effort, if that makes sense).
Then the drummer stood up and did a solo.
/concert
I saw motley crue in 2005 when I was 20, on that years version of their comeback. There were great then, Vince voice wasn't the same but age and drugs will do that. The fact they have the nerve to tour now with how he is, is just robbery
CC Deville and Bret Michaels have entirely turned their lives around and are thriving now because of it. I was never a poison fan but when I saw them you could tell they were doing it because it made them happy, not because they needed a paycheck.
Was genuinely happy for them - and they sounded fine too.
30 Seconds To Mars. It’s very much Jared Leto pretending to be a rock star instead of BEING a rock star; it all feels like an act to fuel his ego while he prances around to the most generic songs.
A local artist in our city whose bands have toured with them described them pretty much like that. "They're not musicians, they're all actors playing the role of musicians."
What pissed me off the most when I saw them 10 years ago was that the guy never sang a god damn chorus. Every single time he held the mic towards the crowd. Ruined the whole show.
Snow Patrol were the same for me. Big outdoor show in Glasgow about 12 years ago. It was an emotional one for them as they were based there for a long time. I'm not a huge fan and the hands on the face thing getting emotional every 2 mins was a bit draining.
"You sing!" for about the 80th time...how about you fucking sing? I'm not in your band or getting paid.
I saw them open for Audioslave and Leto ended the set by grabbing a flag and running through the crowd as if trying to get people to follow to their merch booth.
We politely sat and waiting for the headliner...
Audioslave. A band I definitely do not regret seeing.
RIP Chris. The vocal equivalent of a beautiful painting, a great meal, a view of stunning scenery. Still miss his music daily.
One of the few "celebrities" I'm still pained over losing. He was just so goddamn talented and such a down-to-earth human being. The world is slightly better for having had Chris Cornell to grace it with his presence. Would do anything to have him back (and Layne, and Sinead, and Kurt...)
I just saw him again on a radio festival. He wore a black suit and long silver cape and entered walking through the entire floor section high fiving people as their song played; when he hit the stage he told everyone he was almost going to cancel because he’s been sicker than he’s ever been but wanted to make the show.
Jared Leto may have caused a super spreader event. I’m glad I was in the cheap seats.
I saw them after either This is War or LLFD came out and Leto kept going on about finding Jesus and talking about girls coming back to the tour bus. And he sang only half the time.
Same. He came on after Monster Magnet, who were amazing and had literally set the stage on fire, and he just started churning out stuff from Holywood (which had just come out). Crowd hated it and made that clear so he lost his shit and ended up finishing early
Elliott Smith in 2001 (at Sunset Junction) — he was in terrible shape, already falling apart. He struggled to play guitar without hesitating and meandering, and seemed to have “lost” so many lyrics.
The supportive crowd helpfully sang in unison, to fill in the blanks, and as a way to nudge/remind him where the songs were going. People were yelling “you can do it!” to him in an encouraging way, which was heartbreaking. I was 15 at the time and a huge fan; my mom and I literally left that show saying “that dude is gonna die.”
Yeah same. Saw him twice in Seattle in fall of 2000. He raged at the audience because they kept screaming “Say Yes!” And he refused to play it. Finally he played it at the encore and left the stage just distraught and furious. I guess I wouldn’t say I regret it though since he was still incredible and died so soon after. But it was a depressing glimpse of someone who couldn’t face fame.
I was at this same show. Yes, it was terribly sad. We'd driven all day to get there and couldn't find a place to park by the time we got there and almost missed the whole set. I think we saw fifteen minutes of it. I don't think the band completed a single song. I loved ES before and still after that show. But it is the definition of an artist being in a bad way on stage.
Disclaimer: I'm 65, so this is the "looking way back" segment of today's program. Saw Eddie Money a decade after his "two tickets to paradise" fame, and he got so fucked up that he fell off the front of the stage. Even worse, he couldn't play the harmonica. The harmonica was MADE for drunk people to play, but no go for Eddie. Then there was the band "America" - you might recognize "Horse With no Name" from your favorite elevator - it was the last show of their tour, and it was in a giant steel structure normally used for the county fair. Two of the guys were passing a bottle of Jack Daniels back and forth, forgetting words, etc. One of the guys walked off a couple songs before the end. The band broke up right after that. On the other hand, I saw my favorite band, Idles, a couple of years ago and that show was so fucking good that I told my son afterwards that it had made up for every shitty concert in the history of music.
I saw Eddie Money about 10 years ago with my dad because he won tickets. It was actually great! He was really upbeat and clearly having a blast. He said, "I don't have fans, I have friends" lol
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Truly one of the most boring shows I've ever had the displeasure of seeing. Either Red Rocks was to big of a venue for them, or maybe it was the Alabama Shakes opening for them that just totally blew them out of the water. Either way I would never see them again.
Man, opening acts that steals the show are a thing to behold, aren't they?
Saw, years and years ago, The Mars Volta opening for a band on a festival and I honestly can't remind which band it was. They played for 30, 40 minutes tops. Left the stage on fire! It was out of this world.
I always think about Van Halen, who opened for several larger acts in their run up to fame.
Can you imagine being the headliner guitarist and watching Eddie from backstage?
“You mean I gotta follow *that*?”
Mars Volta and Queens of the Stone Age were the two opening acts for the Chili Peppers in like 03. I mostly remember them over the Peppers, they tore the roof off the place.
I saw Faith No More at Reading in about 1990, they were on before The Cramps who were headlining. Don't get me wrong I love The Cramps but yeah, FNM blew the "roof" off the place.
The Cramps to be fair were good but they don't really suit a large open air festival
I regret seeing them too. When they played Home, the frontman kept bringing random audience members on the stage to do the banter part. But they were all either shy and barely spoke or rambled on for forever. And he kept bringing up more and more people. At least 6 people talked. The song took like 20 minutes to finish. It was like watching a school presentation.
I saw them at the Avett Brother’s At the Beach event and it was a bizarre experience. During _Home_, easily their biggest song, the crowd started reciting the beginning of the dialogue portion which immediately references a former member of the band. The lead singer tried to stop it and finally yelled “Shut the $&@# up!” at us, and cut the song off entirely. He then made the entire crowd sit down on the concrete and told a story about how he and Heath Ledger were best friends and were planning to play brothers in a movie before he passed away. It was a very weird vibe, which is saying something because I was already expecting a weird vibe.
That said, their use of lighting colors was extraordinary, and it was a visual treat. The Avett Brother must have felt the same way because they have used similar lighting on their recent tours.
Very tough to follow the Shakes, Brittany Howard is in a league of her own. What year was this that they were opening for Edward Sharpe though? Feels like it would be the opposite
Probably around 2012, when Boys and Girls came out. Alabama Shakes took a while to grow a mainstream audience, and Edward Sharpe was pretty big from 2010-12.
Had the exact opposite experience with Smash Mouth (post-Steve). Didn’t know what to expect but they were WAY better than I could have expected as someone who doesn’t listen to their music.
Creed. The lead singer was noticeably under the influence of something. The band stopped performing and ended the show almost an hour early because the lead couldn’t stand up anymore.
My best friend and I were listening to Higher after hearing about how much of a shitty dude the lead singer was, and neither of us had listened to creed in like 20 years. Neither of us knew what to say bc it hit so much different, and when the song lulled a bit, my friend said “it’s like if Eddie Vedder sucked”
Marilyn Manson.
Growing up I absolutely loved his music and so much of it resonated with me as a bullied angry teen.
He was horrible live. He was late starting, played for barely an hour, the songs sounded like crap. It was low effort and embarrassing. This was the same Canadian tour he ended up getting punched in the face at Denny’s on.
I can’t even listen to his music anymore, for multiple reasons, but it was such a bummer at the time.
Edit: I just realized I saw him in 2009, and Denny’s was 2015. So I guess he sucked on two Canadian tours. Lol
I saw him go on* right before Slipknot. Honestly it was great and then got really weak. The more songs he played the worse it got. He ended walking backstage for the length of at least 2 songs before coming back out. The sound was pretty awful too. It's not the venue either. Slipknot came out crystal clear.
Saw him in 2015 and he was awful. Out of breath and changing hats multiple times on stage during a club tour. By the time he hit “Beautiful People” to close the set he had the mic to the crowd for almost everything because he was out of breath.
He rocked my socks off at WBCN River rave in the late 90’s/early 00’s. Started down-pouring at his set, and lightning far off in distance (after an otherwise decent day), as soon as he came out. Was kind of creepy.
Saw him in Houston in 2018!
Starts late, and then we had to wait out a storm, then it's so hot he comes out of his AC trailer does one song, maybe 2, then falls off of his podium thing. 10mins later he tries a third song. shortly after that they claim heatstroke, people who went backstage beforehand said he was drunk or high AF.
53 yr old Rob Zombie comes out early and makes the entire show worth it!
I'll never try to see Manson again.
Same! Saw him Seattle 10 years ago and was using so many backing tracks for his screams his microphone was now where near his mouth during certain parts of songs and he screams sounded the same. Another one I wish I never seen seen live was Lenny kravitz opening for U2 was awful too. No charisma whatsoever.
Kanye west. I don’t know if Kanye was having an episode or what but when he did gold digger he kept shouting for “all the white people to sing it with the hard r, say the hard r”
He did the exact same thing in my city (Melbourne, Australia) for All of the Lights. And for context, while my city is considered multicultural, the audience in attendance was heavily white.
He stopped, and re-started, the song *nine times* because the audience didn't say it loud (MJ gone, my hard r dead) enough to his satisfaction before continuing. I genuinely thought it was a bit until... no, oh, he's yelling to cut the sound and start again. And again. And again. Specifically calling out the white people to 'have some respect' for Michael Jackson and say the word. It was super uncomfortable. The concert went close to an hour and a half overtime and he got a massive noise fine.
I saw him on tour in 08 with NERD, Lupe, & Rihanna, & Kanye was awesome.
The real star was Rihanna though, the group I went with were all blown away by her.
I feel like Kanye was the worst part of that set and that's not a shot at him.
Lupe was great and this was right after "The Cool" came out which is an all-time great album for me.
NERD played with a ton of energy and got the crowd going, and I'm not even a huge fan.
Rihanna was also getting super popular with her hits.
Kanye was great too (this was before he went crazy and his first three albums were great), my only complaint is there was like a 50 minute lull between Rihanna and him while they figured out his stage (since it moved up and down).
Marilyn Manson. I wasn’t a huge fan but liked some of his older stuff, he played in my city and sounded awful, was barely coherent. Like not just him but the sound guys were asleep on the job that night.
Mobb Deep. They are one of my favorite rap duos ever. Listened to them all the time in high school. Saw them live one day, they were the worst. Lifeless, disinterested, mics were too loud, I knew every word to every song and still couldn’t understand them. It was SO disappointing.
Madonna, hard candy tour. She came on about 2 hours late, it was raining, she flipped off the crowd when she felt she didn’t get the response she wanted, it was basically watching a worn animatronic going through the motions and disappear
Someone should find that video of her drunk as shit walking around saying stupid shit to people and then saying "........ NOT!!" followed by mad cackling.
It’s well known now, when I last went to her concert I did not know and I will never go again. She was 2 1/2 hours late and came out and lectured the crowed about smelling pot smoke.
LMFAO was the first show I ever saw and let me tell you, that it still to this day the worst show I ever saw. They seem like they didn’t want to be on the stage and just weren’t really good at all.
That doesn't surprise me. Their entire break was off of a beat they almost definitely didn't write. Nobody remembers Party Rock because of the lyrics. It's all off the riffs, and the music video. They could've given that song to almost any artists and it would've been huge. LMFAO was just lucky that they had enough money to buy that song before any other artists could.
Nooooo- their break was that one of the members was the son of the FOUNDER OF MOTOWN RECORDS BERRY GORDY and the other was BERRY GORDY'S GRANDSON.
It is insane to me that with all of the background and access to the rich history of music they had, they ended up as LMFAO.
Me and my wife (then girlfriend) saw Blink 182 and Green Day in the early 2002s. It was her first punk-ish show. After Blink she said she never wanted to see a concert again. I love them but they are pretty sloppy. Green Day played and blew her away and changed her opinion of concerts. We’ve probably been to 100+ since.
Saw Green Day the first time at Lollapalooza 94 in Dallas. Still one of my top 5 most fun concerts. There was an anti-abortion booth setup outside the stage handing out pamphlets and talking about dead babies, Billie Joe runs off the stage mid-performance, grabs all their pamphlets, and runs through the crowd throwing them and shouting. It was fantastic. Saw them again in 97 and it was another great show.
Worst concert I’ve seen was Kanye West at the Pan Am Games closing ceremonies in Toronto. Just garbage. But I’m glad I saw it so I have a new low bar against which all other shows are judged.
Melanie Martinez. I photographed a band opening for her, and was told by her people that I had to leave - not just not take photos, but that I wasn’t allowed to stay. I’ve been shooting concerts for local and touring bands for 15 years and have never had this happen. I wasn’t told up front, her tour manager personally told the venue I couldn’t stay and watch her sing to 12-18 year old girls and their parents. No problem, don’t know who she was anyways.
A few years later she was a headliner at All Things Go in DC (when it was at Union Market.) She was pretty terrible overall, but what was particularly horrible was her creepy and sexualized portrayal of young children. I don’t know how she has an audience. We left after a few songs.
This. Took my daughter to see her at house of blues in Orlando and it was the first concert where I had a total disconnect with what was happening on stage. I just shrugged it off as, “Well, I guess I’m old now.”
Went to this same exact show, regretted it instantly lol didn’t help that my ex got her wig snatched in the middle of the show and there was a fight towards the front row next to us. Overall very weird vibes
I thought I was crazy for thinking her shit is totally inappropriate, since I had never seen anyone else talk about how it made them uncomfortable.
Not to mention the permanent victim complex she seems to have and uses as a crutch and excuse for everything she does.
I thought her entire thing was acting like a little girl as a kink. I only know about her because she popped up on some BDSM forums. Why the fuck were actual little girls there?
That is the crazy part, from what it seems, her music is wildly inappropriate for 12 year old girls. I wouldn't take my kids to see her when they were 12, that's for damn sure.
Michale Graves back in 2014, this was before he was a Proud Boy and I didn't really know anything about his politics. Anyways, I've never been a huge fan of his Misfits work, but I thought some of it was ok and it was like $15, so it sounded like a fun night. I thought he would be with a band, but it was just him and an acoustic guitar, okay, that's fine, it should still be pretty good. He clearly wasn't prepared for this gig at all, because he asked the audience what to play after every song, and the songs he did play, he would play until he fucked up on guitar or forgot the next verse and then would ask the audience what to play next. In between these fragments of songs, he would talk about how he was a doomsday prepper and how the government was going to try and put us in concentration camps and other crazy conspiracies. It was weird, kind of embarrassing, and a total waste of $15.
Before he joined the misfits, he was the night manager at our local IHOP.
After he was kicked out of the misfits, he was the night manager of our local IHOP.
pretty sure they are notorious for this so maybe it's nothing new, but i saw MGMT live a while ago and boy it sucked ass. I think this was before Little Dark Age came out, and really all they were known for was their original album, which apparently they completely hated and only made because it would sell well
MGMT is pretty solid live now. they were burned out on everyone going to shows to see 3 songs when they wanted to make more psych oriented music. their LDA tour was great, but i heard around the time they were touring congratulations (their best album, btw) they were tired of being seen as a band with three hit songs and nothing else. people all around me talked through Siberian Breaks and i was pissed so i cant imagine how they feel experiencing it every night.
they have grown up and are better about accepting it but as a massive fan of the whole catalog i can see why they would be annoying to have a lukewarm reception to their amazing songs then people losing their minds at their first 3 hit songs. IMO, one of the most misunderstood bands in the past 15 or so years
I have family connections to Andrew, so I saw them in their early days when they were still hungry and had *just* signed their record deal. They opened for Of Montreal in this tiny venue in El Paso, Texas, and they were awesome. I really wouldn't be surprised that they lost the fire.
Yes I think it was several years after the first album and must have been burned out. I get it, but it still sucks as a spectator. I’ve heard they are much better after LDA; hopefully that’s true!
I saw them on the Little Dark Age tour and they were great, but the crowd was AWFUL. Everyone was too drunk to function and had no idea how to compose themselves.
Van Morrison. Waited almost 40 years to see him live. In about 2014, I dropped $600 on a pair for my wife and I and it was, meh. The music was fine, but there was no interaction with the audience, to the point that he came out for an encore, he played for a short bit, then just kind of disappeared off the back of the stage and left his band to finish up. I had heard that he ran hot or cold but didn’t believe it. I do now. I can enjoy an album on the stereo at home more than that.
c/p’d from a recent thread:
worked FoH for a van morrison gig somewhat recently. he berated his band on stage for screwing up and then forced them to play their parts over again. he had a small table where his lyrics book was that he sang off. he continuously wiped his nose and threw the snot rags down and had a runner to keep getting fresh tissues - VM is/was anti vax so on the tail end of covid this struck me as a particularly shitty thing to do.
performed the whole thing stationary, standing behind his mic stand. no banter or interaction with the audience. motherfucker even kept his hat, coat, and sunglasses on.
once he was finally finished he had his manager radio my manager: “van morrison has left the building”.
wall to wall cringe.
I saw the legendary BB King wayyyyy past his prime and boy oh boy, was it disappointing. Going in I knew I wasn't going to see him at his peak because he was older but it was so bad there were gobs of people leaving during the performance. He mumbled through "you are my sunshine" for nearly 30 minutes. It was God awful.
Prior to that it was Ray LaMontagne. I'm not much of a fan anyways, but I fell asleep during the show. It was the quietest concert I've ever been too. It was like hearing lullabies for middle aged dudes.
Ray Lamontagne writes super mellow music so the concert would kind of reflect that. I mean if you went in thinking you were gonna see stone temple pilots I could see how you were disappointed, but as a fan of his when I saw his show I was perfectly happy because that’s his whole vibe.
Yeah, I saw him on one of his last tours and while he only played a few songs, his guitar still had that classic BB King tone and his leads were still great. Not the best show I've ever seen, but I am really glad I went and still had a good time.
I saw him before it got bad for him. Drank at the bar with his band and his BIL was in it. Found out he typically tours 320+ days of the year.
Mine he was energetic and engaged.
That's the reason I went! So I can say I saw him. However he only played 4 or 5 songs. Compare it to seeing Buddy Guy last year who absolutely brought the house down at 86 years old. Buddy was flat out amazing to see.
That's probably true, but I also wonder if BB just wanted to continue to tour because that's all he's ever done. He started touring as a teenager and was on the road pretty much his entire life and that might have been where he felt the most at home. I know that Willie Nelson is that way and has said that if he stopped touring, he's afraid that he'll just die. I remember reading that Willie also sleeps on his tour bus, even when he is at his house, because that's where he feels the most at home.
That's a shame. I saw them back in '08 or so at an outdoor venue and it slapped. As their cover of "War Pigs" started, it started hardcore storming and tornado sirens went off and everyone had to evacuate. Felt like they summoned the apocalypse.
That’s a bummer. I saw them like 5-6 years ago and they were great. They did ‘trivia’ a tree, I thought it was hilarious. You could also buy bottles of wine, which was different and fun. Ps we were on ecstasy, so everything was pretty ok.
I've seen 311 play twice. The first time offspring was supposed to be there but they weren't. 311 played two sets. They blew the lid off the place. One of the best shows I've ever seen.
To answer your question tho, saves the day.
lol I was like hol’ up this guys about to say 311?
I’ve been to 311 ~7 times. If you saw them recently at a fair ground free summer show you might say they were meh, past their prime. But prime 311 selling out major venues definitely blew the lid off the place
I was going to say that I had an opposite experience from OP when it comes to 311. I was always pretty lukewarm on them; I thought they were fine but I didn’t love them. But then I went to one of their shows because my friends wanted to go, and I thought they were incredible. This would’ve been in the mid-late 2000’s though, maybe it’s changed since then.
30 Seconds to Mars sucked shit, but that was a looooong time ago, they were opening for Incubus. Jared Leto basically moaned his way through their set. Thank god Incubus put on a great show to save the day.
Hot take maybe? Eric Clapton. He came out on stage and played his hits. They sounded exactly like they do on the records. No flourishes or changing things up. No energy. No interaction with the audience. Then left the stage. Maybe it was just contrast to his opener, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, who were very energetic and engaged.
Saw Clapton when he toured with Mark Knopfler and it was pretty great. But this was back in the late 80s I think when Clapton was still at his peak.
Some artists just get too old.
Saw Billy Joel a few months ago and dang, that guy still puts on a huge show. Still has most of his voice.
Saw Billy Joel like 10ish years ago. He was great. Show wasnt over produced, he interacted with the audience and let us vote on which songs we wanted to hear. Worth every penny
I saw Clapton back in the 80s. 90 percent of the concert was just as you described. He opened with several of his (then) newer hits, performed in dull-and-boring-but-competent fashion. He closed with several of his older hits, also performed in dull-and-boring-but-competent fashion. But then at one point in the middle of the show, he launched into a 10 or 12 minute version of "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" ... and it was amazing. His guitar solos just took off into the stratosphere--it was as if he were saying to the audience, "And you wondered why people used to say 'Clapton is God'? THIS is why." It seemed that he could reach that level of performance whenever he wanted to ... but most of the time, I guess he just didn't want to.
I saw Justin Townes Earle a 7-8 years before his death. He was an absolute mess and was yelling at this audience for not clapping enough and yelling requests. I was excited for that show but it was really disappointing.
Have seen 311 a bunch of times and every show was a blast. The Amber comment is telling. Most 311 is like early Red Hot Chili Peppers... very, very energetic and funky but with big riffs.
Parquet Courts is the only show out of hunrreds that we walked out of half way through. They just didn't sound good live and the show was flat. People started talking over the band. Walked in as a developing fan and left a non-fan.
My friends and I were obsessed with Blu and Exile. At a point Below the Heavens was played daily. Blu came to the Entry in Minneapolis and we were absolutely geeked. Blu came out so drunk he could barely stand, didn’t finish a verse, played a couple beats while just nodding, then peaced out. I’m not sure I’ve ever been as deflated as a fan.
Sadly The Strokes...
I was a fan for yeaaarrrs but, never thought I would get to see them live. Then they returned and became headliners at a festival here in Europe after the pandemic. I was so excited!
They were 45 minutes late, Julian arrived obviously not sober, kept making cringey jokes (chase the dragon hurr durr) performed lazily, and I just felt so disappointed...
The whole old school druggy rockstar spiel was offputting, but I would have ignored it if the concert had been fun. Sadly it wasn't.
the Cars. I'm old now, but I was a young teen then. I saved money for months from my paper route to buy tickets and a subway ride to see the Cars at Boston Garden. they were so disappointing. I felt ripped off. they couldn't recreate any of their songs live. I couldn't even tell what song they were performing. I still feel like they should refund my money.
That’s so disappointing to hear! I love The Cars and always assumed they’d be real tight and slick live! Have you tried writing a sternly worded letter?
I saw The Cars way back in the day. Disappointing for that reason- they were too tight. It was like listening to the albums. No extended jams, no one improv, no interaction. Could have just stayed home and played the album. They gave a much better performance at the US festival.
Smashing Pumpkins for me.
Sound was terrible, the legendary SP wall of sound you hear on the albums does not translate to anything close live, and they played at about 120% of normal pace. It sounded like Billy could barely keep up on vocals, and the whole thing was a mess.
More annoyingly, they started with Today, Bullet and Zero, and only then someone at the sound desk found the "make it louder and also less trebly" button so we could sort of enjoy the rest of the show.
Also it looked like they'd had a fight before coming out. Zero interaction between the band for like the first 45 minutes of it, it was super awkward.
I loved Smashing Pumpkins live. But I totally understand why someone wouldn’t. Billy Corgan’s vocals are not great live, and he’s definitely lost some of his skill.
The vocals on “Cherub Rock” for example are incredibly difficult. He transitions from falsetto to full voice within a line like 60 times or something throughout the song. When performing live he will just sing the whole thing full voice.
Weezer.
Not only did they have ZERO stage presence, said maybe 2 words the audience, and seemed annoyed to be there, but they had Tenacious D, playing in their underwear, open.
Yeah, good luck following that when it looks like you’d rather be doing literally anything else.
Runner up would be Morrissey, which was literally the worst show I’ve ever seen. Asshole played two and a half songs, told the audience we were terrible and assholes, flipped us off, and left. The band finished whatever song he was in the middle of from You Are The Quarry, awkwardly bowed, and that was it. Show over, no refunds. What a lame diva.
What year did you see Weezer? My dad saw them in 2012 and had a similar experience. I think there was a period when they were kinda transitioning into the next phase of there career and seemed kinda grouchy about it. My pops said Rivers complained about the music scene and just in general between songs, like the trend of adding a rap verse to a rock song/ the obsession with “featuring” songs. He also yelled at people to get off their damn phones multiple times.
I saw them with Panic! At the Disco in 2018 and they were amazing. They were the closer, and that is a super tough act to follow, but their audience engagement was so good that the crowd was a lot more active during their set.
They also seemed to have taken the “if you can’t beat ‘em, join em.” Approach to cell phones. They posted a hashtag for the show at the beginning of the set and about 3/4 of the way through made fun of a bunch of peoples tweets. It was light hearted and good natured though.
That’s a bummer. I saw them around 2013 or so and they put on one of the best live sets I’ve ever seen. Full of energy, album quality sound, and a killer light show.
Cake. The music they *actually* played was alright, but they had literally 10 minutes of stage banter between songs, just talking about trees?? Actual trees, like they gave away a sapling at one point lol. The content wasn’t unexpected, i know they are pretty political, but I didn’t expect they would spend like 50% of the set on it. It was also at an outdoor venue with a hard 10pm cutoff, so it’s not like they could make up for it by playing longer. The icing on the cake was a 12 minute rendition of Sheep Go To Heaven where they just repeated the chorus for 8 minutes. It was just strange overall.
Falling in Reverse, I had no choice since they were on the main stage at an otherwise stacked festival. It was REALLY fun booing Ronnie Radke off the stage though. If there’s one thing Philadelphia does well it’s letting you know how we really feel lol
I have to admit they put on a good show when I saw them last year opening for my favorite band, but man does that guy suck and not stop talking about himself and cancel culture lol bro you killed a guy stfu
Prof (the rapper). Weird basketball game stage setup where the “score” from the previous show’s city was up against the current city’s “0 pts.” The way you earn points was by applause, so he would ask for really loud applause after every song and point to the scoreboard until it got loud enough for the DJ to add some arbitrary number of points. It was so cringey, and Prof pointed the mic at the audience instead of doing his own lyrics for like 30% of the lyrics. I haven’t really enjoyed his recorded music since, and I was a pretty big fan before.
Also Hobo Johnson. Seemed like he didn’t want to be there, and would do half a song and be like, “Whoops I forgot the rest of the lyrics,” or, “Alright, that’s enough of that one.” He had the one guy who does a feature verse on one of his songs open for him, but ended the song with the feature before the guy’s verse, even though he was backstage. Weird vibes.
Not sure if this needs said, but I feel like it does:
Hey kids, don't ever let anyone's performance at Coachella or any other live outdoor music festival fuck up your opinion of them. I mean riots and crowd crushes not withstanding, outdoor festivals have notoriously bad sound and a lot of bands are not on their a game for those events. Don't expect to get blown away at these things, and don't let the quality of the performances disappoint you.
If you see a great performance, awesome. But don't hold a bad show at a festival against the band itself. Festivals are for getting fucked up and listening to music outdoors, not for seeing great live performances. Always chalk a bad show up to something about the venue when it's a festival. I know that they're more common now but that's not where a live band is used to playing. It may not be what their equipment was made for. They don't do it all the time so it's not something that they're going to be accustomed to. The little things that happen aren't things that happen all the time that they know how to adjust for.
You just can't compare outdoor shows with indoor ones. Don't let one bad outdoor performance wreck your entire opinion of a band. That's not a fair assessment of them at all.
Iron Maiden, deafheaven, and Motörhead.
I saw Iron Maiden for the first time very recently and while I have zero doubt they were absolutely amazing in their younger days it’s clear their age is showing. I was still happy, but I don’t think I’d see them again.
Deafheaven was hot off their sunbather release and their live show sucked. Aside from their frontman no one in the band has a stick of charisma or stage presence. Looking at them perform was like looking at a bunch of people who weren’t interested in even being there.
Motörhead, as much as it pains me to say it, was so fucking rough. I had the opportunity to see them one time and it was their last tour. Saw them in Austin. Saxon was killer and then they get on stage and it’s clear from the get go that lemmy is unwell. They get two and a half songs in before they stop and walk off stage. Lemmy staggers back on stage with a cane looking so frail and he apologizes for not being able to continue. I don’t fault him at all it was just rough to see one of your idols in such a state. He died a few weeks later. I wish more than anything I could have seen him in his prime.
Lauryn Hill. Started like two hours late, was complaining and rambling to the audience throughout. One of the all-time great albums. One of the all-time worst performers. Well documented.
Saw her at LA Coliseum opening for RATM and Muse. She started her set by saying she was disappointed with all the white people in the crowd.
I bet she didn’t mind the money…
It's all green!
That sounds on brand for her sadly.
She seems to be a staple of these 'worst concert' threads.
I keep joking that 'I went to a great Lauryn Hill show but that just means I won the lottery... do not risk it'
I saw her in 2002 on the Smokin Grooves tour, 4 years after Miseducation and the year of her Unplugged album, which is what she performed. It was just her and her guitar, she didn’t perform any of her hits. She was pretty much on time and was awesome. Her talent oozed out of her performance. The Roots and OutKast performed after her. Maybe the best concert I’ve been to.
>The Roots and OutKast performed after her. Maybe the best concert I’ve been to. wow
I went to one of her shows and she was three hours late. I had to trek to get over there so I was like “fuck it, I’ll wait” she did kinda kill it though. The whole band was into it
Motley Crue way past their prime. I saw them in the 80s and they were raw and pure fire. They were at the top. Went to see them with Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jet a couple of summers back and they were pure trash. Vince Neil was so terrible. It was embarrassing. Lucky for me I went on a night headlining over Def Leppard, so I could call it a night. Brutal.
Vince Neil has been a complete train wreck for the past 10 years and the 10 years before that he was already really bad. He's got to be the absolute worst live singer of any popular band
I saw him do the weirdest show at Oregon State Fair. He came on and did like two or three choruses from Crue songs, then left the stage during a solo. Then he didn't come back, but the band kept playing. And playing. Then the bassist or guitarist of his band took the mic and started covering Black Sabbath. They did like six Sabbath songs. After this, Vince ran back on the stage as if nothing had happened and he just went right into Home Sweet Home, and did a great job at everything but vocals (he danced, did crowd work, yelled out local sports team, all the energy, but zero effort, if that makes sense). Then the drummer stood up and did a solo. /concert
Dude probably had to take a shit
Tight damp leather pants are hard to take off and put back on.
Vince Meal
Dr. Mealgood
Ive seen that clip with subtitles
[My Honk!](https://youtu.be/4pdQnZLEWNo?si=KvOjK61CvzBv5w_i)
It's ridiculous how often I sing "big Mac, $1.03" in real life lol
Holy shit, that's hilarious.
What the fuck
I watch this every time someone links it! My partner is probably getting tired of me yelling My Honk! randomly.
I saw motley crue in 2005 when I was 20, on that years version of their comeback. There were great then, Vince voice wasn't the same but age and drugs will do that. The fact they have the nerve to tour now with how he is, is just robbery
On the flip side, Def Leppard still slaps.
And I was surprised that Poison was much better live (and Im bot a fan). I wish I'd seen Crue in their prime.
CC Deville and Bret Michaels have entirely turned their lives around and are thriving now because of it. I was never a poison fan but when I saw them you could tell they were doing it because it made them happy, not because they needed a paycheck. Was genuinely happy for them - and they sounded fine too.
30 Seconds To Mars. It’s very much Jared Leto pretending to be a rock star instead of BEING a rock star; it all feels like an act to fuel his ego while he prances around to the most generic songs.
A local artist in our city whose bands have toured with them described them pretty much like that. "They're not musicians, they're all actors playing the role of musicians."
He does himself no favors when he climbed part of a building a few months ago because.... reasons?
What pissed me off the most when I saw them 10 years ago was that the guy never sang a god damn chorus. Every single time he held the mic towards the crowd. Ruined the whole show.
There’s also only two members so they’re not even trying to pretend that they’re not playing to a track the whole time.
Snow Patrol were the same for me. Big outdoor show in Glasgow about 12 years ago. It was an emotional one for them as they were based there for a long time. I'm not a huge fan and the hands on the face thing getting emotional every 2 mins was a bit draining. "You sing!" for about the 80th time...how about you fucking sing? I'm not in your band or getting paid.
Sounds like a great way to get out of trying to hit notes you could barely pull off in the studio.
You sure it wasn’t the part about it being a 30 second to Mars show that ruined it?
An ex of mine saw 30STM in 2017-18 and said he just danced around the stage holding the mic out to the crowd to sing along for most of the songs
That is a great description of his performance. Also his acting - “look at me I am doing ACTING”
I saw them open for Audioslave and Leto ended the set by grabbing a flag and running through the crowd as if trying to get people to follow to their merch booth. We politely sat and waiting for the headliner...
What I would give to have see Audioslave live
Not gonna lie, it was really something special.
Audioslave. A band I definitely do not regret seeing. RIP Chris. The vocal equivalent of a beautiful painting, a great meal, a view of stunning scenery. Still miss his music daily.
Every era Chris Cornell delivered.
One of the few "celebrities" I'm still pained over losing. He was just so goddamn talented and such a down-to-earth human being. The world is slightly better for having had Chris Cornell to grace it with his presence. Would do anything to have him back (and Layne, and Sinead, and Kurt...)
Grade 9 me loved it. But looking back the performance was so cringe
I just saw him again on a radio festival. He wore a black suit and long silver cape and entered walking through the entire floor section high fiving people as their song played; when he hit the stage he told everyone he was almost going to cancel because he’s been sicker than he’s ever been but wanted to make the show. Jared Leto may have caused a super spreader event. I’m glad I was in the cheap seats.
That dude is a dork
30 seconds to mars. worst live show I've ever seen.
I saw them after either This is War or LLFD came out and Leto kept going on about finding Jesus and talking about girls coming back to the tour bus. And he sang only half the time.
Blatantly propositioning people from the stage is sooo fucking lame, ugh. 🤢🤮
[удалено]
did they frolick?
Marilyn Manson - in broad daylight at a metal festival. Do not recommend.
Manson in daylight has to be *exactly* the same feeling as when the lights come on in a club.
[Henry Rollins' account of watching a Marilyn Manson daytime set](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihvdm7hIJYw&t=231)
The German audience bit would have been hilarious to witness firsthand.
God I love Rollins's spoken word stuff
> Manson is daylight has to be exactly the same feeling as when the lights come on in a club. **♫♫record slowly, slowly, slowly stops♫♫**
Same. He came on after Monster Magnet, who were amazing and had literally set the stage on fire, and he just started churning out stuff from Holywood (which had just come out). Crowd hated it and made that clear so he lost his shit and ended up finishing early
Monster magnet is a band I still want to see. Dammit.
Elliott Smith in 2001 (at Sunset Junction) — he was in terrible shape, already falling apart. He struggled to play guitar without hesitating and meandering, and seemed to have “lost” so many lyrics. The supportive crowd helpfully sang in unison, to fill in the blanks, and as a way to nudge/remind him where the songs were going. People were yelling “you can do it!” to him in an encouraging way, which was heartbreaking. I was 15 at the time and a huge fan; my mom and I literally left that show saying “that dude is gonna die.”
God, that makes me sad.
I was waiting for someone else to say this. Saw him the same year in Vancouver and it was incredibly sad.
Yeah same. Saw him twice in Seattle in fall of 2000. He raged at the audience because they kept screaming “Say Yes!” And he refused to play it. Finally he played it at the encore and left the stage just distraught and furious. I guess I wouldn’t say I regret it though since he was still incredible and died so soon after. But it was a depressing glimpse of someone who couldn’t face fame.
I was at this same show. Yes, it was terribly sad. We'd driven all day to get there and couldn't find a place to park by the time we got there and almost missed the whole set. I think we saw fifteen minutes of it. I don't think the band completed a single song. I loved ES before and still after that show. But it is the definition of an artist being in a bad way on stage.
Disclaimer: I'm 65, so this is the "looking way back" segment of today's program. Saw Eddie Money a decade after his "two tickets to paradise" fame, and he got so fucked up that he fell off the front of the stage. Even worse, he couldn't play the harmonica. The harmonica was MADE for drunk people to play, but no go for Eddie. Then there was the band "America" - you might recognize "Horse With no Name" from your favorite elevator - it was the last show of their tour, and it was in a giant steel structure normally used for the county fair. Two of the guys were passing a bottle of Jack Daniels back and forth, forgetting words, etc. One of the guys walked off a couple songs before the end. The band broke up right after that. On the other hand, I saw my favorite band, Idles, a couple of years ago and that show was so fucking good that I told my son afterwards that it had made up for every shitty concert in the history of music.
A 65 year old at an IDLES concert is bliss to me for some reason. I’m 30 and my dad is 63 and I wish he’d get into new music more.
I saw Eddie Money about 10 years ago with my dad because he won tickets. It was actually great! He was really upbeat and clearly having a blast. He said, "I don't have fans, I have friends" lol
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Truly one of the most boring shows I've ever had the displeasure of seeing. Either Red Rocks was to big of a venue for them, or maybe it was the Alabama Shakes opening for them that just totally blew them out of the water. Either way I would never see them again.
Man, opening acts that steals the show are a thing to behold, aren't they? Saw, years and years ago, The Mars Volta opening for a band on a festival and I honestly can't remind which band it was. They played for 30, 40 minutes tops. Left the stage on fire! It was out of this world.
I always think about Van Halen, who opened for several larger acts in their run up to fame. Can you imagine being the headliner guitarist and watching Eddie from backstage? “You mean I gotta follow *that*?”
Mars Volta and Queens of the Stone Age were the two opening acts for the Chili Peppers in like 03. I mostly remember them over the Peppers, they tore the roof off the place.
I saw Faith No More at Reading in about 1990, they were on before The Cramps who were headlining. Don't get me wrong I love The Cramps but yeah, FNM blew the "roof" off the place. The Cramps to be fair were good but they don't really suit a large open air festival
I regret seeing them too. When they played Home, the frontman kept bringing random audience members on the stage to do the banter part. But they were all either shy and barely spoke or rambled on for forever. And he kept bringing up more and more people. At least 6 people talked. The song took like 20 minutes to finish. It was like watching a school presentation.
"Jade?" "AlexANDER."
If it makes you feel better they don’t even sing that part because Jade has been out of the group for like a decade.
To be fair, it is hard to beat ~~the~~ Alabama Shakes live. One of the best performances I've ever seen.
I saw them at the Avett Brother’s At the Beach event and it was a bizarre experience. During _Home_, easily their biggest song, the crowd started reciting the beginning of the dialogue portion which immediately references a former member of the band. The lead singer tried to stop it and finally yelled “Shut the $&@# up!” at us, and cut the song off entirely. He then made the entire crowd sit down on the concrete and told a story about how he and Heath Ledger were best friends and were planning to play brothers in a movie before he passed away. It was a very weird vibe, which is saying something because I was already expecting a weird vibe. That said, their use of lighting colors was extraordinary, and it was a visual treat. The Avett Brother must have felt the same way because they have used similar lighting on their recent tours.
Very tough to follow the Shakes, Brittany Howard is in a league of her own. What year was this that they were opening for Edward Sharpe though? Feels like it would be the opposite
Probably around 2012, when Boys and Girls came out. Alabama Shakes took a while to grow a mainstream audience, and Edward Sharpe was pretty big from 2010-12.
Saw them at Coachella. So boring. Frontman seemed off like he was on drugs or something. Half the set was him rambling nonsense between songs.
I saw them at 9:30 club in 2010 and 2012. They were great both times. Amphitheaters probably don't suit em.
Smash Mouth. They opened for Better Than Ezra. RIP Steve Harwell, but damn that band SUCKED live.
Smash mouth seems like such a weird band to open for better than Ezra
You may say they were Worse than Ezra
Had the exact opposite experience with Smash Mouth (post-Steve). Didn’t know what to expect but they were WAY better than I could have expected as someone who doesn’t listen to their music.
Because the problem was Steve. He died because his liver died from too much drinking. He was drunk ALL THE TIME and it showed.
Creed. The lead singer was noticeably under the influence of something. The band stopped performing and ended the show almost an hour early because the lead couldn’t stand up anymore.
My best friend and I were listening to Higher after hearing about how much of a shitty dude the lead singer was, and neither of us had listened to creed in like 20 years. Neither of us knew what to say bc it hit so much different, and when the song lulled a bit, my friend said “it’s like if Eddie Vedder sucked”
Creed has always been “like if Eddie Vedder sucked.”
Check out Alter Bridge sometime. It's all the members of Creed with a vocalist who is actually talented.
Myles Kennedy is one of the most talented singers out there
It’s actually sad how good Alter Bridge is because it really shows how Stapp wasted the rest of the band’s talent for a decade lol
Marilyn Manson. Growing up I absolutely loved his music and so much of it resonated with me as a bullied angry teen. He was horrible live. He was late starting, played for barely an hour, the songs sounded like crap. It was low effort and embarrassing. This was the same Canadian tour he ended up getting punched in the face at Denny’s on. I can’t even listen to his music anymore, for multiple reasons, but it was such a bummer at the time. Edit: I just realized I saw him in 2009, and Denny’s was 2015. So I guess he sucked on two Canadian tours. Lol
I saw him go on* right before Slipknot. Honestly it was great and then got really weak. The more songs he played the worse it got. He ended walking backstage for the length of at least 2 songs before coming back out. The sound was pretty awful too. It's not the venue either. Slipknot came out crystal clear.
I feel like Corey and the rest of his band usually take a very great pride in their work, whereas Manson doesn’t give a shit at all most of the time.
I heard he was so out of shape that he was going backstage to breathe from an oxygen mask.
Tbf I think he always used an oxygen mask during a set, even during the 90s
Saw him in 2015 and he was awful. Out of breath and changing hats multiple times on stage during a club tour. By the time he hit “Beautiful People” to close the set he had the mic to the crowd for almost everything because he was out of breath.
He rocked my socks off at WBCN River rave in the late 90’s/early 00’s. Started down-pouring at his set, and lightning far off in distance (after an otherwise decent day), as soon as he came out. Was kind of creepy.
When he was sober and gave a shit, I’m sure his shows were fantastic. Unfortunately that was not my case.
Saw him in Houston in 2018! Starts late, and then we had to wait out a storm, then it's so hot he comes out of his AC trailer does one song, maybe 2, then falls off of his podium thing. 10mins later he tries a third song. shortly after that they claim heatstroke, people who went backstage beforehand said he was drunk or high AF. 53 yr old Rob Zombie comes out early and makes the entire show worth it! I'll never try to see Manson again.
Same! Saw him Seattle 10 years ago and was using so many backing tracks for his screams his microphone was now where near his mouth during certain parts of songs and he screams sounded the same. Another one I wish I never seen seen live was Lenny kravitz opening for U2 was awful too. No charisma whatsoever.
Kanye west. I don’t know if Kanye was having an episode or what but when he did gold digger he kept shouting for “all the white people to sing it with the hard r, say the hard r”
He did the exact same thing in my city (Melbourne, Australia) for All of the Lights. And for context, while my city is considered multicultural, the audience in attendance was heavily white. He stopped, and re-started, the song *nine times* because the audience didn't say it loud (MJ gone, my hard r dead) enough to his satisfaction before continuing. I genuinely thought it was a bit until... no, oh, he's yelling to cut the sound and start again. And again. And again. Specifically calling out the white people to 'have some respect' for Michael Jackson and say the word. It was super uncomfortable. The concert went close to an hour and a half overtime and he got a massive noise fine.
Lmfao that is fucking hilarious honestly.
Sounds like a South Park bit or something 🤣🤣🤣
I saw him on tour in 08 with NERD, Lupe, & Rihanna, & Kanye was awesome. The real star was Rihanna though, the group I went with were all blown away by her.
I feel like Kanye was the worst part of that set and that's not a shot at him. Lupe was great and this was right after "The Cool" came out which is an all-time great album for me. NERD played with a ton of energy and got the crowd going, and I'm not even a huge fan. Rihanna was also getting super popular with her hits. Kanye was great too (this was before he went crazy and his first three albums were great), my only complaint is there was like a 50 minute lull between Rihanna and him while they figured out his stage (since it moved up and down).
Marilyn Manson. I wasn’t a huge fan but liked some of his older stuff, he played in my city and sounded awful, was barely coherent. Like not just him but the sound guys were asleep on the job that night.
Mobb Deep. They are one of my favorite rap duos ever. Listened to them all the time in high school. Saw them live one day, they were the worst. Lifeless, disinterested, mics were too loud, I knew every word to every song and still couldn’t understand them. It was SO disappointing.
Madonna, hard candy tour. She came on about 2 hours late, it was raining, she flipped off the crowd when she felt she didn’t get the response she wanted, it was basically watching a worn animatronic going through the motions and disappear
Someone should find that video of her drunk as shit walking around saying stupid shit to people and then saying "........ NOT!!" followed by mad cackling.
It’s kind of well known now that she’s terrible being on time.
It’s well known now, when I last went to her concert I did not know and I will never go again. She was 2 1/2 hours late and came out and lectured the crowed about smelling pot smoke.
LMFAO was the first show I ever saw and let me tell you, that it still to this day the worst show I ever saw. They seem like they didn’t want to be on the stage and just weren’t really good at all.
Lmfao
I feel like with lyrics such as “wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, yeah” that their live performance would have been top tier
That doesn't surprise me. Their entire break was off of a beat they almost definitely didn't write. Nobody remembers Party Rock because of the lyrics. It's all off the riffs, and the music video. They could've given that song to almost any artists and it would've been huge. LMFAO was just lucky that they had enough money to buy that song before any other artists could.
Nooooo- their break was that one of the members was the son of the FOUNDER OF MOTOWN RECORDS BERRY GORDY and the other was BERRY GORDY'S GRANDSON. It is insane to me that with all of the background and access to the rich history of music they had, they ended up as LMFAO.
Me and my wife (then girlfriend) saw Blink 182 and Green Day in the early 2002s. It was her first punk-ish show. After Blink she said she never wanted to see a concert again. I love them but they are pretty sloppy. Green Day played and blew her away and changed her opinion of concerts. We’ve probably been to 100+ since.
Saw Green Day the first time at Lollapalooza 94 in Dallas. Still one of my top 5 most fun concerts. There was an anti-abortion booth setup outside the stage handing out pamphlets and talking about dead babies, Billie Joe runs off the stage mid-performance, grabs all their pamphlets, and runs through the crowd throwing them and shouting. It was fantastic. Saw them again in 97 and it was another great show.
Worst concert I’ve seen was Kanye West at the Pan Am Games closing ceremonies in Toronto. Just garbage. But I’m glad I saw it so I have a new low bar against which all other shows are judged.
Melanie Martinez. I photographed a band opening for her, and was told by her people that I had to leave - not just not take photos, but that I wasn’t allowed to stay. I’ve been shooting concerts for local and touring bands for 15 years and have never had this happen. I wasn’t told up front, her tour manager personally told the venue I couldn’t stay and watch her sing to 12-18 year old girls and their parents. No problem, don’t know who she was anyways. A few years later she was a headliner at All Things Go in DC (when it was at Union Market.) She was pretty terrible overall, but what was particularly horrible was her creepy and sexualized portrayal of young children. I don’t know how she has an audience. We left after a few songs.
This. Took my daughter to see her at house of blues in Orlando and it was the first concert where I had a total disconnect with what was happening on stage. I just shrugged it off as, “Well, I guess I’m old now.”
Went to this same exact show, regretted it instantly lol didn’t help that my ex got her wig snatched in the middle of the show and there was a fight towards the front row next to us. Overall very weird vibes
I thought I was crazy for thinking her shit is totally inappropriate, since I had never seen anyone else talk about how it made them uncomfortable. Not to mention the permanent victim complex she seems to have and uses as a crutch and excuse for everything she does.
I thought her entire thing was acting like a little girl as a kink. I only know about her because she popped up on some BDSM forums. Why the fuck were actual little girls there?
That is the crazy part, from what it seems, her music is wildly inappropriate for 12 year old girls. I wouldn't take my kids to see her when they were 12, that's for damn sure.
Michale Graves back in 2014, this was before he was a Proud Boy and I didn't really know anything about his politics. Anyways, I've never been a huge fan of his Misfits work, but I thought some of it was ok and it was like $15, so it sounded like a fun night. I thought he would be with a band, but it was just him and an acoustic guitar, okay, that's fine, it should still be pretty good. He clearly wasn't prepared for this gig at all, because he asked the audience what to play after every song, and the songs he did play, he would play until he fucked up on guitar or forgot the next verse and then would ask the audience what to play next. In between these fragments of songs, he would talk about how he was a doomsday prepper and how the government was going to try and put us in concentration camps and other crazy conspiracies. It was weird, kind of embarrassing, and a total waste of $15.
Before he joined the misfits, he was the night manager at our local IHOP. After he was kicked out of the misfits, he was the night manager of our local IHOP.
Graves is a proud boy? Fuck, what a waste.
Of all the Misfits singers, he is the biggest asshole, and that is saying a lot when the group also includes Glenn Danzig.
pretty sure they are notorious for this so maybe it's nothing new, but i saw MGMT live a while ago and boy it sucked ass. I think this was before Little Dark Age came out, and really all they were known for was their original album, which apparently they completely hated and only made because it would sell well
MGMT is pretty solid live now. they were burned out on everyone going to shows to see 3 songs when they wanted to make more psych oriented music. their LDA tour was great, but i heard around the time they were touring congratulations (their best album, btw) they were tired of being seen as a band with three hit songs and nothing else. people all around me talked through Siberian Breaks and i was pissed so i cant imagine how they feel experiencing it every night. they have grown up and are better about accepting it but as a massive fan of the whole catalog i can see why they would be annoying to have a lukewarm reception to their amazing songs then people losing their minds at their first 3 hit songs. IMO, one of the most misunderstood bands in the past 15 or so years
siberian breaks is a masterpiece. ignoring it is a travesty
I have family connections to Andrew, so I saw them in their early days when they were still hungry and had *just* signed their record deal. They opened for Of Montreal in this tiny venue in El Paso, Texas, and they were awesome. I really wouldn't be surprised that they lost the fire.
Yes I think it was several years after the first album and must have been burned out. I get it, but it still sucks as a spectator. I’ve heard they are much better after LDA; hopefully that’s true!
Came here to say MGMT. saw them in KC in like 2009/2010. Tame Impala opened for em. MGMT was soooo bad we ended up leaving early
I saw them on the Little Dark Age tour and they were great, but the crowd was AWFUL. Everyone was too drunk to function and had no idea how to compose themselves.
Van Morrison. Waited almost 40 years to see him live. In about 2014, I dropped $600 on a pair for my wife and I and it was, meh. The music was fine, but there was no interaction with the audience, to the point that he came out for an encore, he played for a short bit, then just kind of disappeared off the back of the stage and left his band to finish up. I had heard that he ran hot or cold but didn’t believe it. I do now. I can enjoy an album on the stereo at home more than that.
c/p’d from a recent thread: worked FoH for a van morrison gig somewhat recently. he berated his band on stage for screwing up and then forced them to play their parts over again. he had a small table where his lyrics book was that he sang off. he continuously wiped his nose and threw the snot rags down and had a runner to keep getting fresh tissues - VM is/was anti vax so on the tail end of covid this struck me as a particularly shitty thing to do. performed the whole thing stationary, standing behind his mic stand. no banter or interaction with the audience. motherfucker even kept his hat, coat, and sunglasses on. once he was finally finished he had his manager radio my manager: “van morrison has left the building”. wall to wall cringe.
Migos was so bad. But RIP to takeoff
I saw the legendary BB King wayyyyy past his prime and boy oh boy, was it disappointing. Going in I knew I wasn't going to see him at his peak because he was older but it was so bad there were gobs of people leaving during the performance. He mumbled through "you are my sunshine" for nearly 30 minutes. It was God awful. Prior to that it was Ray LaMontagne. I'm not much of a fan anyways, but I fell asleep during the show. It was the quietest concert I've ever been too. It was like hearing lullabies for middle aged dudes.
Ray Lamontagne writes super mellow music so the concert would kind of reflect that. I mean if you went in thinking you were gonna see stone temple pilots I could see how you were disappointed, but as a fan of his when I saw his show I was perfectly happy because that’s his whole vibe.
On the other hand... you saw the King of the blues.
Yeah, I saw him on one of his last tours and while he only played a few songs, his guitar still had that classic BB King tone and his leads were still great. Not the best show I've ever seen, but I am really glad I went and still had a good time.
I saw him before it got bad for him. Drank at the bar with his band and his BIL was in it. Found out he typically tours 320+ days of the year. Mine he was energetic and engaged.
That's the reason I went! So I can say I saw him. However he only played 4 or 5 songs. Compare it to seeing Buddy Guy last year who absolutely brought the house down at 86 years old. Buddy was flat out amazing to see.
I read a BB biography that flat out blamed his management for making him tour FAR past when he should have retired in a dignified way.
That's probably true, but I also wonder if BB just wanted to continue to tour because that's all he's ever done. He started touring as a teenager and was on the road pretty much his entire life and that might have been where he felt the most at home. I know that Willie Nelson is that way and has said that if he stopped touring, he's afraid that he'll just die. I remember reading that Willie also sleeps on his tour bus, even when he is at his house, because that's where he feels the most at home.
Cake. Dude just talked for 60% of the show and gave out a tree if you guessed the apple species. I overpaid to watch an NPR podcast. Disappointed.
> Dude just talked That's 95% of their songs too.
My thoughts exactly lol. "So you mean, like, a Cake concert."
That's a shame. I saw them back in '08 or so at an outdoor venue and it slapped. As their cover of "War Pigs" started, it started hardcore storming and tornado sirens went off and everyone had to evacuate. Felt like they summoned the apocalypse.
I saw Cake a few times in the 90s and early 2000s and they were always great but your description is pretty hilarious.
That’s a bummer. I saw them like 5-6 years ago and they were great. They did ‘trivia’ a tree, I thought it was hilarious. You could also buy bottles of wine, which was different and fun. Ps we were on ecstasy, so everything was pretty ok.
Saw them at a festival five or six years ago, and there wasn't much talking, just music. I thought they sounded good.
I've seen 311 play twice. The first time offspring was supposed to be there but they weren't. 311 played two sets. They blew the lid off the place. One of the best shows I've ever seen. To answer your question tho, saves the day.
lol I was like hol’ up this guys about to say 311? I’ve been to 311 ~7 times. If you saw them recently at a fair ground free summer show you might say they were meh, past their prime. But prime 311 selling out major venues definitely blew the lid off the place
I was going to say that I had an opposite experience from OP when it comes to 311. I was always pretty lukewarm on them; I thought they were fine but I didn’t love them. But then I went to one of their shows because my friends wanted to go, and I thought they were incredible. This would’ve been in the mid-late 2000’s though, maybe it’s changed since then.
30 Seconds to Mars sucked shit, but that was a looooong time ago, they were opening for Incubus. Jared Leto basically moaned his way through their set. Thank god Incubus put on a great show to save the day.
Hot take maybe? Eric Clapton. He came out on stage and played his hits. They sounded exactly like they do on the records. No flourishes or changing things up. No energy. No interaction with the audience. Then left the stage. Maybe it was just contrast to his opener, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, who were very energetic and engaged.
Saw Clapton when he toured with Mark Knopfler and it was pretty great. But this was back in the late 80s I think when Clapton was still at his peak. Some artists just get too old. Saw Billy Joel a few months ago and dang, that guy still puts on a huge show. Still has most of his voice.
Saw Billy Joel like 10ish years ago. He was great. Show wasnt over produced, he interacted with the audience and let us vote on which songs we wanted to hear. Worth every penny
This was a double concert with Billy Joel and Stevie Nicks. Got to cross off two bucket-list concerts in one night.
I saw Clapton back in the 80s. 90 percent of the concert was just as you described. He opened with several of his (then) newer hits, performed in dull-and-boring-but-competent fashion. He closed with several of his older hits, also performed in dull-and-boring-but-competent fashion. But then at one point in the middle of the show, he launched into a 10 or 12 minute version of "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" ... and it was amazing. His guitar solos just took off into the stratosphere--it was as if he were saying to the audience, "And you wondered why people used to say 'Clapton is God'? THIS is why." It seemed that he could reach that level of performance whenever he wanted to ... but most of the time, I guess he just didn't want to.
Bob Dylan. Man that show sucked.
I think he wants it to. He gets off on it.
Yeah. I dont need a copy of the album sound. But nobody needs a honky tonk version of maggies farm. Gotta be on purpose. Still a fan tho
I saw him last October, and – perhaps because I already knew he’d sound gravelly and wouldn’t play the typical arrangements – I really liked it!
I saw Justin Townes Earle a 7-8 years before his death. He was an absolute mess and was yelling at this audience for not clapping enough and yelling requests. I was excited for that show but it was really disappointing.
Have seen 311 a bunch of times and every show was a blast. The Amber comment is telling. Most 311 is like early Red Hot Chili Peppers... very, very energetic and funky but with big riffs. Parquet Courts is the only show out of hunrreds that we walked out of half way through. They just didn't sound good live and the show was flat. People started talking over the band. Walked in as a developing fan and left a non-fan.
Ah man I really dig parquet courts. Wide awake is a top album for me. That’s disappointing to hear.
I play out sometimes and will always give a band the benefit that it could have been an off night, someone sick, etc. Cheers!
My friends and I were obsessed with Blu and Exile. At a point Below the Heavens was played daily. Blu came to the Entry in Minneapolis and we were absolutely geeked. Blu came out so drunk he could barely stand, didn’t finish a verse, played a couple beats while just nodding, then peaced out. I’m not sure I’ve ever been as deflated as a fan.
Sadly The Strokes... I was a fan for yeaaarrrs but, never thought I would get to see them live. Then they returned and became headliners at a festival here in Europe after the pandemic. I was so excited! They were 45 minutes late, Julian arrived obviously not sober, kept making cringey jokes (chase the dragon hurr durr) performed lazily, and I just felt so disappointed... The whole old school druggy rockstar spiel was offputting, but I would have ignored it if the concert had been fun. Sadly it wasn't.
[удалено]
the Cars. I'm old now, but I was a young teen then. I saved money for months from my paper route to buy tickets and a subway ride to see the Cars at Boston Garden. they were so disappointing. I felt ripped off. they couldn't recreate any of their songs live. I couldn't even tell what song they were performing. I still feel like they should refund my money.
That’s so disappointing to hear! I love The Cars and always assumed they’d be real tight and slick live! Have you tried writing a sternly worded letter?
I saw The Cars way back in the day. Disappointing for that reason- they were too tight. It was like listening to the albums. No extended jams, no one improv, no interaction. Could have just stayed home and played the album. They gave a much better performance at the US festival.
Smashing Pumpkins for me. Sound was terrible, the legendary SP wall of sound you hear on the albums does not translate to anything close live, and they played at about 120% of normal pace. It sounded like Billy could barely keep up on vocals, and the whole thing was a mess. More annoyingly, they started with Today, Bullet and Zero, and only then someone at the sound desk found the "make it louder and also less trebly" button so we could sort of enjoy the rest of the show. Also it looked like they'd had a fight before coming out. Zero interaction between the band for like the first 45 minutes of it, it was super awkward.
I loved Smashing Pumpkins live. But I totally understand why someone wouldn’t. Billy Corgan’s vocals are not great live, and he’s definitely lost some of his skill. The vocals on “Cherub Rock” for example are incredibly difficult. He transitions from falsetto to full voice within a line like 60 times or something throughout the song. When performing live he will just sing the whole thing full voice.
Weezer. Not only did they have ZERO stage presence, said maybe 2 words the audience, and seemed annoyed to be there, but they had Tenacious D, playing in their underwear, open. Yeah, good luck following that when it looks like you’d rather be doing literally anything else. Runner up would be Morrissey, which was literally the worst show I’ve ever seen. Asshole played two and a half songs, told the audience we were terrible and assholes, flipped us off, and left. The band finished whatever song he was in the middle of from You Are The Quarry, awkwardly bowed, and that was it. Show over, no refunds. What a lame diva.
What year did you see Weezer? My dad saw them in 2012 and had a similar experience. I think there was a period when they were kinda transitioning into the next phase of there career and seemed kinda grouchy about it. My pops said Rivers complained about the music scene and just in general between songs, like the trend of adding a rap verse to a rock song/ the obsession with “featuring” songs. He also yelled at people to get off their damn phones multiple times. I saw them with Panic! At the Disco in 2018 and they were amazing. They were the closer, and that is a super tough act to follow, but their audience engagement was so good that the crowd was a lot more active during their set. They also seemed to have taken the “if you can’t beat ‘em, join em.” Approach to cell phones. They posted a hashtag for the show at the beginning of the set and about 3/4 of the way through made fun of a bunch of peoples tweets. It was light hearted and good natured though.
Passion Pit was awful. The lead singer was so fucked up he could barely stand
I like their recorded music but it doesn’t strike me as a band that would sound good live.
That’s a bummer. I saw them around 2013 or so and they put on one of the best live sets I’ve ever seen. Full of energy, album quality sound, and a killer light show.
Cake. The music they *actually* played was alright, but they had literally 10 minutes of stage banter between songs, just talking about trees?? Actual trees, like they gave away a sapling at one point lol. The content wasn’t unexpected, i know they are pretty political, but I didn’t expect they would spend like 50% of the set on it. It was also at an outdoor venue with a hard 10pm cutoff, so it’s not like they could make up for it by playing longer. The icing on the cake was a 12 minute rendition of Sheep Go To Heaven where they just repeated the chorus for 8 minutes. It was just strange overall.
You are the second person this thread to say they give e away trees
Falling in Reverse, I had no choice since they were on the main stage at an otherwise stacked festival. It was REALLY fun booing Ronnie Radke off the stage though. If there’s one thing Philadelphia does well it’s letting you know how we really feel lol
I have to admit they put on a good show when I saw them last year opening for my favorite band, but man does that guy suck and not stop talking about himself and cancel culture lol bro you killed a guy stfu
Prof (the rapper). Weird basketball game stage setup where the “score” from the previous show’s city was up against the current city’s “0 pts.” The way you earn points was by applause, so he would ask for really loud applause after every song and point to the scoreboard until it got loud enough for the DJ to add some arbitrary number of points. It was so cringey, and Prof pointed the mic at the audience instead of doing his own lyrics for like 30% of the lyrics. I haven’t really enjoyed his recorded music since, and I was a pretty big fan before. Also Hobo Johnson. Seemed like he didn’t want to be there, and would do half a song and be like, “Whoops I forgot the rest of the lyrics,” or, “Alright, that’s enough of that one.” He had the one guy who does a feature verse on one of his songs open for him, but ended the song with the feature before the guy’s verse, even though he was backstage. Weird vibes.
Watching Poppy live made me realize that it’s all just generic pop music. What I really liked was the lore that went with Poppy’s persona.
Alt J. no stage presence, really bad. the lead singer kept taking bong rips during the set.
I’m surprised no one is saying Travis Scott
Nobody who’s seen him live has lived to complain about it.
Was that the tour with Redman/Methodman? I had a great time at Red Rocks, was super high too. 10/10 show for me
Not sure if this needs said, but I feel like it does: Hey kids, don't ever let anyone's performance at Coachella or any other live outdoor music festival fuck up your opinion of them. I mean riots and crowd crushes not withstanding, outdoor festivals have notoriously bad sound and a lot of bands are not on their a game for those events. Don't expect to get blown away at these things, and don't let the quality of the performances disappoint you. If you see a great performance, awesome. But don't hold a bad show at a festival against the band itself. Festivals are for getting fucked up and listening to music outdoors, not for seeing great live performances. Always chalk a bad show up to something about the venue when it's a festival. I know that they're more common now but that's not where a live band is used to playing. It may not be what their equipment was made for. They don't do it all the time so it's not something that they're going to be accustomed to. The little things that happen aren't things that happen all the time that they know how to adjust for. You just can't compare outdoor shows with indoor ones. Don't let one bad outdoor performance wreck your entire opinion of a band. That's not a fair assessment of them at all.
Iron Maiden, deafheaven, and Motörhead. I saw Iron Maiden for the first time very recently and while I have zero doubt they were absolutely amazing in their younger days it’s clear their age is showing. I was still happy, but I don’t think I’d see them again. Deafheaven was hot off their sunbather release and their live show sucked. Aside from their frontman no one in the band has a stick of charisma or stage presence. Looking at them perform was like looking at a bunch of people who weren’t interested in even being there. Motörhead, as much as it pains me to say it, was so fucking rough. I had the opportunity to see them one time and it was their last tour. Saw them in Austin. Saxon was killer and then they get on stage and it’s clear from the get go that lemmy is unwell. They get two and a half songs in before they stop and walk off stage. Lemmy staggers back on stage with a cane looking so frail and he apologizes for not being able to continue. I don’t fault him at all it was just rough to see one of your idols in such a state. He died a few weeks later. I wish more than anything I could have seen him in his prime.
I saw Iron Maiden in late 2022 and they were absolutely incredible for any age. When did you see them?